MAYSLES, Albert and David Paul

Nationality:
American.
Born:
Albert born in Brookline, Massachusetts, 26 November 1926; David Paul
born in Brookline, 10 January 1932.
Education:
Albert attended Brookline High School; Syracuse University, New York,
degree in psychology; Boston University, M.A. in psychology. David
attended Brookline High School; Boston University, degree in psychology.
Military Service:
During World War II, Albert served in U.S. Army Tank Corps, David served
in the Army at Headquarters, Military Intelligence school, Oberammergau,
Germany.
Family:
David married Judy (Maysles), one son, one daughter.
Career:
Albert taught psychology at Boston University, from late 1940s, then
travelled to Russia to make first film, 1955; David worked as production
assistant on
Bus Stop
and
The Prince and the Showgirl
, 1956; they make first film together, 1957; David worked as reporter on
Adventures on the New Frontier
for TV, late 1950s and early 1960s; Albert worked as cameraman for
Richard Leacock, 1960; formed production company together and made first
film, 1962; Albert worked as cameraman on one section of Godard's

Owen, D., "The Maysles Brothers," in
Film Dope
(Nottingham), no. 41, March 1989.

Elliott, Stuart, "In Creating a Spot, Many Say There's
Nothing like the Real Thing," in
The New York Times
, 26 November 1993.

"The Making of
Concept of Wills
: Making the Getty Center," interview in
International Documentary
(Los Angeles), vol. 16, no. 12, December 1997.

* * *

Shooting unobtrusively in sync sound with no instructions to the subject,
the Maysles brothers made films in what they preferred to call
"direct cinema." Albert, gifted photographer and director of
all their projects, carried the lightweight, silent camera that he
perfected on his shoulder, its accessories built in and ready for
adjustment. Maysles characters, who occasionally talk to the filmmakers on
screen, seem astonishingly unaware that strangers and apparatus are in the
room.

David, the soundman, carried a sensitive directional mike and a Nagra
recorder unattached to the camera. He was often involved in the editing
and as producer had final say. During the shooting a story might become
apparent, or a dominant character may surface. These elements may become
clear only as the editors examine, cut, and structure the vast amounts of
footage that they receive in the dailies.

In 1962, a time when Albert had acquired brief experience in documentary
filmmaking and David had garnered a similar amount of experience in
Hollywood feature films, they formed a partnership committed to direct
cinema. Commercials and industrial filmmaking supported their preferred
activity from time to time.

The company's production of two feature documentaries (which they
distributed commercially),
Salesman
, a study of four bible salesmen, and
Grey Gardens
, an essay on two eccentric women, fed the constant discussions between
documentarists and critics about whether objectivity is at all possible in
documentaries. Both films were charged with dishonesty, exploitation, and
tastelessness, but other quarters praised the Maysles' sensitivity,
rapport with their subjects, and choice of situations that viewers could
identify with.

The Maysles sought to answer the criticism and describe their philosophy
and working methods at screenings of their films, in articles, and in
letters to editors. Their instinct took them, they said, to situations
related to closeness between human beings, and pointed out that they could
not do films about people they dislike. They looked on their work as a
discovery of how people really are, first spending time with them to get
acquainted, then filming their lives as lived. All their subjects agreed
to the project under consideration beforehand, and several have spoken of
their satisfaction with the finished film and their good relationship with
Albert and David, whom they trusted.

The Maysles did not deny that their choices affected their creation in
some way. Their methodology, for example, meant that much footage must be
discarded. They emphasized that nothing was staged, a structure that
eventually emerges from the material. In their own work they saw a
relationship to Truman Capote's concepts and methods for his
"non-fiction novel": discarding preconceptions about their
subjects, while concentrating on learning about them and understanding
their motivations and feelings.

Albert and David Maysles have an important place in the history of the
documentary for many reasons. They produced a large, varied, evocative
body of work in their chosen style, as very active members of their own
small company. Despite some severe criticism of their
work, they are admired, and probably envied for qualities that Americans
value. Directly influential or not on documentaries today, their work is
certainly part of the flow of films that aim to show the truth about
contemporary problems. While many other filmmakers' reports and
studies embrace large communities, or even whole countries, Maysles
productions are about individuals and their concerns, which often
illuminate larger aspects of society as well as its general attitudes
toward non-traditional behavior.

Since David Maysles' death, Albert has continued turning out
documentaries, mostly collaborating with Susan Froemke, Charlotte Zwerin,
and Deborah Dickson. His subjects are as varied as when he worked with his
brother, ranging from classical music (
Horowitz Plays Mozart, Jessye Norman Sings Carmen
) to social issues (
Abortion: Desperate Choices
, which traces the history of abortion in America) to attempts by artists
to realize their visions. One of these efforts,
Christo in Paris
, chronicles the artist Christo's efforts to wrap Paris'
Pont-Neuf Bridge; two decades earlier, Albert and David had made
Christo's Valley Curtain
, in which the artist tried to hang an orange curtain over a valley.

—Lillian Schiff, updated by Rob Edelman

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